Prudential has embarked on a big recruitment drive in Asia while taking action to moderate the growth of its US business to ensure the group does not become imbalanced.

The life insurer rrecruited 11,000 salespeople in Asia between the first quarter of last year and the start of this year, taking its agency force to 165,000 as the continent continues to provide strong growth. It is hiring particularly in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam although regulatory changes have caused a collapse in its Indian business.

The insurer beat City forecasts with a 10% rise in first-quarter sales to £888m, which raised new business profits 17% to £498m. Sales in the US jumped a surprise 26% to £322m as baby boomers rushed to buy retirement plans after suffering big losses in investments and house values in the recession.

Prudential has been surprised by the strength of the US market, where the baby boomer generation is keen to buy protected retirement products after suffering big losses in investments and the value of their houses during the recession. Prudential's US arm, Jackson National Life, faces little competition at the moment as many US insurers were hit hard by the financial crisis. The group is now worried the business is becoming too large and said it was making changes to products to slow growth, especially in variable annuities.